Gustave Courbet		The Stone Breakers
			1849, French
			oil on canvas, destroyed in WWI
			63" x 102"
	J.D. Ingres   The Apotheosis of Homer, 1852 French				Gorgon from the temple of Artemis at Corfu,   600 BC. Greek         Dying Niobid   440 B.C. Greek
			Painting: oil paint
			Courbet’s painting was meant to contrast with the subject matter and style found in the popular art displayed in the Solon exhibition in Paris (see the painting by Ingres - The Apotheosis of Homer). Although he set his figures in the foreground of the narrow stage (very little background is visible), their everyday appearance and their menial activity,breaking stones into gravel by the roadside, would not count as art for the mid 19th century art public. What was Courbet saying? He exalts and dignifies the working class and turns his back on the elitist themes found in the respectible Solon. For Courbet, everyday life was more transendent than the traditional, classical, historical and biblical subjects usually favored.
			ELEMENTS AND PRICIPLES: Yes, there are lines and shapes and space. But there is something very ordinary about the composition and the color. Courbet does quote ancient precedent by using the “pinwheel” stance seen as early as 600 B.C. in the pediment sculpture of the Gorgon. The stance was used again by the Greek sculptor of the Dying Niobid. In both cases the subjects are not exalted figures. The Gorgon is an ugly figure meant to guard the treasury. And the Niobid was killed because her mother offended a goddess by boasting of her seven sons and seven daughters. The niobids nudity is not simply meant to display an ideal of feminine beauty but to accentuate the drama of the event. The pinwheel stance in both the Gorgon and the Niobid is meant to show less than dignified movement.
			Sometimes the analysis of the visual language pales by comparison with the content expressed by the imagery and the context.